Up Up and Away

Caleb is climbing up stairs now.  I captured this super short video (aka memory card was full) on his second attempt at stairs. You will notice there was a bit of incentive for him to climb up them.  I'm pretty sure this is why he decided: "hmmmm, I think I'm capable of going up these things that I've never noticed before."

Here are some recent pictures of Caleb exploring the house.

Caught playing by myself

Just like my daddy

Max doesn't always love Caleb playing with him, but he tolerates it if I'm around

Adjectives to describe Caleb

What adjetives would I use to describe Caleb?

Active, Stubborn, Observant

Now lets look at each of these words a little closer

Active:

• He is always on the move. Even at a month old he was constantly moving his legs.   He preferred to be held while you were standing and walking around the house.  His favorite place to hangout was his bouncy seat, and you had to give it some extra bounce.
• Caleb is crawling everywhere.  Just this week he has started crawling into rooms where neither Chris nor I are.  This is exciting an a bit scary.
• I think Caleb would rather be standing than doing anything else.  All he needs is something taller than him (preferably something sturdy) and he can find a way to get up, either pulling himself up or leaning while getting his feet out from under him.  Unfortunately he is becoming pretty bold with standing up and he will be on his knees and lean towards something to help him get the rest of the way up.  The problem is he does not always realize how far away from stuff he is and he falls on his face.  Of course he doesn't know how to catch himself yet.  Oh and he usually has a toy in one hand, with the other hand outstretched to lean on something
• Caleb can now climb up stairs.  Holy Cow.  It turns out all he needed was some motivation.  We have two sets of stairs in our house from the main floor to the second floor.  The set that is most often used lands in the living room aka the play room.  So Caleb has been around these stairs and seen Mom, Dad and Max use them plenty of times but was never interested in them.  Until we moved Max's dog food onto one of the landings (two stairs up before a 90 degree turn).  Caleb is obsessed with the dog food and bowls. Yesterday I look over and Caleb has climbed one stair and proceeds to continue climbing until reaching his destination.  Later Chris wanted to see him climb so he was encouraging him up the stairs and it was a no go.  Until I climbed the other set and stood at the top talking to him.  The little man climbed all the way to the top (only two hours after learning to climb).  Wow I was impressed

Stubborn:

• So I already mentioned the dog food.  Caleb has been crawling toward the dog food and picking it up, dropping/throwing it everywhere, eating it, and best of all dumping out the entire water dish.  Oh so much fun to fill up.  It doesn't matter how far I move him away from the dog food he immediately goes straight back there.  We have been conducting a bit of an experiment by blocking him from the food and boy does he get mad.  Throws his own little hissy fit.  
• The blinds.  Oh how annoying it is to have a baby pulling and banging on your wooden blinds.  I can't really blame him for wanting to play with them, they are interesting. The blinds scenario plays out practically the same as the dog food.  
• Max and Caleb play with the same toys.  I tried to keep them seperate, but Max kept picking up Caleb's toys and then Caleb started picking up Max's toys and well I just gave up.   They are kept in different locations (assuming i picked them up for the day and they are not scattered around the house).  On occasion Max has taken a toy out of Caleb's hands, and he does not like it.   He starts crying this sad frustrated cry, until he is distracted by a different toy.
• Hmmmmm so many more examples but I am drawing a blank

This was before I realized it was going to be a problem.

Observant:

• Caleb is always looking around, checking out his surroundings.  
• He has started noticing things above him, which is a bit more interesting when you consider he is never laying down, and certainly not on his back.  
• When we go to a new place, he is checking out everything so he rarely smiles. 

Smörgåsbord of Pictures

I have neglected my blogging duties lately. I was beginning to think that no one ever looked at my blog so I stopped. Until my Nana said that it had been a while since I posted. So here is a bunch of pictures I have taken over the last month or so.

As a preface to these pictures, Caleb is on the move. He is crawling all over the place and is getting pretty fast. He is climbing more and more. Luckily he hasn't figured out how to climb the stairs, and I am not about to show him. Also I would like to note that he does own more than three outfits, however it appears that I only photograph him in the same outfits.

Max has discovered that Caleb has food and is willing to share. Luckily, Caleb enjoys sharing with Max. Oh and yes Caleb makes a mess every time he eats. Today it was carrots.

Yay! happy baby.

Playing in his favorite cabinet, the only one in the kitchen that is not childproofed. This time he found the salad spinner.

He spotted me with the camera and crawled right on over. He was this close before I could actually snap the picture. He is getting fast.

Look at me I'm standing. On anything and everything these days

He has learned to sit down. What a useful skill

Caleb Climbed inside of the cabinet. And got stuck, can you see his frustration?

I showed him how to get back on his knees and waited to see if he could figure out how to get out.

And he did. I was a bit nervous he would go tumbling out and hit his head, but he didn't.


Daddy hanging out with Maxi-pooh
Daddy put Caleb in the dump truck. He's not so sure about it.

He loves my coffee mug. No worries it was empty.

He is crawling everywhere these days. Anywhere he can fit.

I told you, anywhere he can fit, including under the table.

So Caleb doesn't look so cute in this picture but I wanted you to see his adorable hat.

Baptism

On Sunday July 11, 2010 Caleb Christopher Mardis was baptized. It was a sweet moment for our family. The pastor spoke to us and the congregation about the significance of baptism.

"Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life."

Romans 6:3 -4

Before heading to church. This is what Caleb does when he is tired. So precious.

My guys, all adorable and coordinated. We wanted Caleb to be dressed up for the occasion.

Little Man being baptized

Caleb being presented to the church by our pastor. He was looking at the lights.

Caleb with his favorite (and only) Uncle Ryan

Laughing with Mommy (and being tickled by Grandma)

Mardis' from Left to Right Grandpa, Aunt Tonya, Caleb, and Daddy. Notice Caleb and Grandpa were matching (not planned)

My parents were there too.